Pumpkin in my beer?

If you have been beer shopping over the last few weeks, you have probably noticed at least one pumpkin beer on the shelves.  This seasonal offering seems to be gaining in popularity.  Even Anheuser-Busch is getting in on the game!

Pumpkin as a brewing ingredient is hardly a new phenomenon.  Back in colonial times, brewers often used pumpkins as a source of fermentable sugars.  Barley was still grown back in Europe and was either scarce or expensive.  Deprive a man of beer and its amazing what he is willing to try to get a good buzz.  These old recipes often called for dried pumpkins.  I have no idea what that would taste like, but I cannot imagine that it would be great.  Pumpkin by itself can often be pretty bland until you add that magic pie spice.   

Today, pumpkins are roasted and added to the mash to provide both flavor and some sugars, but only as an addition and not as the primary source of fermentables.  Modern beers also add flavor from the inclusion of brown sugar or any number of the spices that make up pumpmik spice: cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, allspice, mace, and clove.  For the pumpkin flavors to shine through, the addition of these ingredients needs to be subtle.  From what I have tasted, the beers offered today offer a wide range of flavors.  Anywhere from really sweet and spicy to subtle.  Grab a few today for the Halloween weekend and see which one you prefer!

Here are just a few brewers offering a pumpkin beer:

• Shipyard - Pumpkinhead Ale
• Dogfish Head - Punkin Ale
• Anheuser-Busch - Jack's Pumpkin Spice
• Lakefront Brewery - Pumpkin Lager
• Buffalo Bills Brewery - Pumpkin Ale